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Pitchford: Why The Hell Didn’t Borderlands Get Ripped Off?

A couple of months away from releasing the first sequel to the 2009’s FPS hit, Borderlands, and the question that intrigues Gearbox Studios president Randy Pitchford is: Why didn’t anybody rip the series off yet.

"I'm actually astonished that we're about to launch a sequel and no one's stole it from us," he said. "The formula's right there. No one's stolen it yet. That's weird."

"Not that I want anyone to steal it, or I'm challenging people to steal it," he iterated before pondering that "We're in an industry where people do nothing but steal from each other."

Interestingly, the fear of getting their ideas ripped off was one of the biggest challenges Pitchford and his team faced while promoting the original Borderlands. "When talking about Borderlands 1, it was really confusing," he explained. "because on one hand we gotta scream from the highest mountain to get attention because it's a new IP. On the other hand, it's like, '****, we don't want to tell people our secret because then they're all gonna copy it because it's so good.'"

Borderlands 2 will be released for Windows PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 18th, 2012.

Horde-killing FPS gaming is mindless. Grind RPG gaming is mindless. Lets put them together and bolt on 100 000 mindless fetch quests, and then cell shade it because our 3D-artists suck, and then fill it with references to other mindless games. And people will totally buy it! Yay! Borderlands, the most boring game you'll ever play. The best part? IT NEVER ENDS!!!!!! WOOO HOOO!!! Seriously, the reason no one stole your crappy formula is the same reason no one is trying to steal the formula to walmart-brand cola, its because it's ****.

sounds like you played it enough to get bored of it. I loved the art style, its exactly why I played it. I was tired of all the fps clones out there that people obsess over (COD, BF, DOOM etc etc). at least Borderlands was original and brave enough to put itself out there in a different way, rather than just trying to impress 13 year old soldier wannabes. BTW I never had to grind to get good gear or be successful, it was all about tactics and item choice. Maybe it was never copied because nobody can do it as good as they did.

LoL an industry expert that actually stumblingly admits developers steal from one another, just more reason to ponder how pirates operate differently from thieves. Just more reason we should have a stronger stance on DRM removal from digital thieves :O

Yep, for someone trying to put down kids and teens you sure have a pretty teen-like point of view yourself. Borderlands isn't a shader mess(the shaders work just fine), its just cel shaded (very different things). I actually enjoyed the game AND the art style. Regarding the having no brain part, it's just senseless hate (a common teen trait), most people ignore it because its baseless (hey you, I dont know you but you must be a ******** because your tastes differ from mine) *rolls eyes*. Anyway, before you even talk about shaders how about you learn how to make some? Not simple stuff though like painting a whole model one color. Going by your apparent age I believe making good shaders is somewhat beyond you. If you need some math tips to get it done (especially linear algebra) you can post here and I will help.

I see all kinds of hate on here and some havent even tried the game. If anyone has ever had that feeling when collecting cards, either from trading card games or sports cards and u open that pack hoping for something good thats 50/50. Its the same feeling playing Borderlands. it was all about the looting, finding good equips and guns that made shooting and killing enemies fun. And of course u have the co-op that made running around and fighting the huge bosses so much more fun. I could care less about style, i was in it for the replayability, choosing from 4 different characters and play styles and about finding rare items.

sorry, but nobody will rip off a terrible game, borderland is just too stupid, i would not play it even if its free. stupid Gearbox Studios and Randy Pitchford thinks highly of themselves, a delusional moron, just like their games.

I think it was the similarities to Fallout 3 and the then-unreleassed RAGE that caused Gearbox to do their last-minute visual style changes, because they'd rather be remembered for what their did do on Borderlands rather than not making a perfect Bethesda-game clone (I could be remembering wrong though).

You mean the post-apocalyptic barren wasteland environment? And both being role-playing games? The exact elements the creators have said are ones they were afraid were too close to the other games mentioned above? Try googling the article "Behind Borderlands 11th-hour change" on Gamespot and try to be informed before mindless posting rubbish on the internet. Interesting quote: "We didn't want to be considered a poor man's Rage," kthxbai.

Well, it is a little :/ There's been a few times I've mistaken things that happened in Borderlands for things that happened in Rage. Side by side you certainly wouldn't mistake them for each other, but superficially they're quite alike.

yeah, cause rage isn't nearly as ****. Rage is unfinished, but it at least has some thought in it. borderlands was just mindless drivel. If i wanted to play serious sam I'd play serious sam, at least the guns are not generic crap. Completely awful.